8 Month old Hugel beds overflowing water

I put in a bunch of hugel beds at our new datmstead last fall. The ground is solid clay. Each bed was built on a 2 foot deep solid clay pit. Each was filled with logs, branches old lumber wood mulch. The wood was generally 1 to 2 feet above ground. I then filled each pit with water. I added wood mulch a little compost of leaves and layered in clay to buid up the mounds. My drip system sends water in and the beds overflowing onto the paths. But the tops of the mounds stay too dry and the plants arent doing well without hand watering. Is this a new bed problem that will become less an issue next year? Or do i need to redo the mound dirt so there is less clay?

Maybe some picture might help tell what is going on.  

New beds take time for the wood to start decomposing.  

Hand watering sound good to me.

If the water is overflowing on the pathways maybe cut back to watering less more frequently.

It takes a while for the hugel to work like it's supposed to.  I think a lot depends on your weather as well. I live in a hot dry climate, and mine never even reduced water needs. The only thing that helped me was to use ollas., and make little retaining mounds around the plants, so the water would go down to the roots instead of down the slope.
I hope you figure it out. I ended up removing mine when the gophers invaded there was no point fighting it any more. I still think it's an amazing way to grow, and use the hugel beet style in all my beds.
Good luck to you.

Where folks live is a big consideration.  Too hot, too old, think how long it take wood to decompose under those conditions.

Anne Miller wrote:Maybe some picture might help tell what is going on.  

New beds take time for the wood to start decomposing.  

Hand watering sound good to me.

If the water is overflowing on the pathways maybe cut back to watering less more frequently.

I turned off the drip system. It took three days to dry out around the beds. Had to hand water to keep things alive. Just turned water back on but at lower durations. We’ll see. It is poking holes in 95 DegF here with almost no rain.

It sounds like you're drowning the mound itself. Also, with how young the mound it, it's likely not established the mycorrhizal network needed to bring water from the base of the mound up to the plants root.

A constant water logged environments would have me  concerned about creating anaerobic conditions and damaging the soil health. I would run the irrigation over the top of the mound so it can slowly be absorbed into the mound. If you want to water deeper into the mound, also consider adding in clay pots buried in the soil or hollow logs added vertically.

The water wicks up the mound, because the wood forms a mycorrhizal network more than the wood just wicking stuff up. The mycorrhizal network will bring water from outside the plants' root area and exchange the water and nutrients for the exudates the plant releases from its roots.

Other considerations -- water kind of cover do you have on the mound? Do you have enough mulch? Is it bare dirt and plants?

Are you growing plants that shade the mound? That'll help it retain moisture in hot, dry weather.

datmstead  

What is that please?

Randy Bachman wrote: But the tops of the mounds stay too dry and the plants arent doing well without hand watering

Sounds like your soil/clay is hydrophobic or maybe you have too much mulch on the surface?

I'll just tell you what I've done on some of my berms to increase hydration and decomposition. I ran 1" poly pipe at an angle, down to the bottom of the berm, about 3'. The other end is sticking up out of the side of the berm and I plugged it with a 1" coupler (barbed x MIP) so that I can unscrew it when needed to feed a garden hose into it. This will allow water to go straight down into the larger biomass at the bottom of the berm's trench to speed up decomposition and hydrate long term. Just make sure you don't over saturate, or you will most likely get anaerobic bacteria growth.

I've also tried using microsprayers for drip systems, but I personally hate those things. Best results I've had with those is flipping them upside down so the water sprays downward, rather than all over the place. I much prefer using dripper line (6" spacing) and/or multiple 1gph-2gph emitters running through the center/top of the berm.

You could also mix in some sand into the clay to help aerate. Just a thought.